[ { "id": 204653, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1963", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "120 \n\nA. D. BLUE \n\nShanghai, travelled by junk from Yochow to Pingsan on the Yunnan border, 1800 miles from the mouth of the river; but were then forced to turn back because of the unsettled state of the country.\n\nIn 1894, the Australian A. G. Morrison,15 successfully completed a somewhat similar journey. Travelling alone and by the customary methods, Morrison went up the Yangtse from Shanghai to Chungking, and then across Western China and the Shan States into Burma, a total distance of 3,000 miles. Morrison was unable to speak Chinese, but travelled in Chinese dress, and experienced nothing but kindness and hospitality all the way. He went from Shanghai to Hankow as a deck passenger on the Jardine steamer Taiwo, paying a dollar a day extra to the steward for foreign 'chow'. From Hankow to Ichang he again travelled as a deck passenger on the China Merchants steamer Kweili, then the only triple screw steamer on the river. At that time Ichang was the last open port on the river, and no foreign ships went past there. For the next stage to Chungking, therefore, Morrison hired a small sampan called a \"weipan\", with a captain and crew of four. This stage of nearly 400 miles through the Yangtse Gorges took 15 days, which was a record at the time, and cost him the equivalent of £2-16-0 in copper cash.\n\nIn his journey up the river Morrison noticed that many of the largest trading junks flew foreign flags, thus avoiding paying “likin” at the various provincial and regional boundaries. Under treaty regulations they only paid an ad valorem duty of 5% on their cargo, which was collected by the Chinese Maritime Customs at Ichang or Chungking. Morrison left the river soon after Chungking, and travelled overland for the remainder of his journey. He found food plentiful and cheap everywhere, and opium growing all along the Chinese section of his route. The total cost of his whole journey from Shanghai to Bhamo was under £20.\n\nSir Reginald Johnston, a British consular official, followed fairly closely in Morrison's footsteps in 1906. He started from Peking, going from there to Hankow by rail, and then up beyond Chungking by steamer and junk, finally going overland to Mandalay.\n\n15 Later to become famous as \"Chinese Morrison\" of the Times.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214048, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1997", "page_number": 116, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "83\n\nShelters\n\nHong Kong has been hit by many severe typhoons causing tremendous damage to shipping, a violent one occurring in 1841 wrecking the cutter Louisa on which Captain Elliot, the British plenipotentiary in China, was travelling to Hong Kong from Macau. In order to protect the smaller-sized shipping, mainly junks and sampans, from excessive danger during storms, major typhoon anchorages protected by heavy rockfill breakwaters were constructed at Causeway Bay in 1883 (c.23ha, now Victoria Park) and another in 1915 at Mong Kok Tsui (Yau Ma Tei - 65ha which has recently been reclaimed). Meanwhile, a 4ha tidal basin and smaller boat basin with slipway were completed around 1905 at the Admiralty dockyard in Victoria (now Central) to afford protection and berthing for naval vessels.\n\nA small basin was constructed in Tsim Sha Tsui in 1885 for the Water Police and, about the same time, another larger one for the Royal Naval torpedo depot. Around the turn of this century, a further anchorage was built adjacent to the old coal briquette works lying near to the end of Austin Road (the Camber Typhoon Shelter).\n\nDocks\n\nSoon after the partial destruction in 1857 of the Couper Dock at Whampoa on the Pearl River as a result of the Arrow incident, the first granite dry dock in this region, the Lamont Dock in the 4½ ha dockyard site at Aberdeen was commissioned and was a complete success from the start; it received its first ship in 1860 and could accommodate a 50-gun steam frigate of 110m length on the blocks. Subsequently the larger and deeper Hope Dock, 125m long, 30m wide at the top and 15m wide at the bottom with an entrance width of 26 metres and 6.7m clearance at neap tides, was constructed adjacent to the Lamont Dock and completed in 1867, in its time being the best in Asia and one of the finest in the world. It could take the largest vessel visiting Hong Kong, even at low water; only one ironclad in the whole of the Royal Navy would be unable to enter without first being lightened by stripping it, for example, of its heavier armament and machinery.\n\nThe smaller 100m-long dry dock at the Hung Hom dockyard in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216107, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2002", "page_number": 406, "title": "RAS-2002", "content_text": "340\n\nand the 1967 Riots. The former were sparked by a five-cent increase on the lower deck of the Star Ferry. Nevertheless, the root cause was largely the community's displeasure with social conditions, shortage of schools, housing, and the like. It was reported that in 1966 in the district of Tsz Wan Shan, in Kowloon, with a population then of 70,000, there was not a single telephone. The Kai Fong Association requested that at least a few public phones be installed. Soldiers marched down Nathan Road with fixed bayonets during the 1966 Riots. The protracted 1967 riots were a spill-over from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China. Firecrackers were banned from then on. The military kept in the background during the 1967 Riots because of fear that China might react. The riots badly affected community stability and, in 1968, office space in Chung King Mansions, in Tsim Sha Tsui, was advertised at 60 cents a square foot.\n\nThe 1966 and 1967 riots were really a watershed. From then on, the government started to listen to the populace more. Social conditions improved, and Hong Kong started a process of de-colonisation. In 1972, government servants were instructed to use the word 'territory' rather than 'colony', other than in a historical context. The Colonial Cemetery became the Hong Kong Cemetery, and so on. A Hong Kong identity and a larger middle class began to form.\n\nIt is interesting to recall that the sparks which ignited the 1956, the 1966, and the 1967 riots all occurred in Kowloon. Hong Kong Island has generally been a more peaceful place. That was why, when I came to the colony in the mid-1950s and there was talk of building a cross-harbour tunnel or a bridge, some Hong Kong Island residents expressed fear, if this happened, of being 'swamped' by 'hordes' from Kowloon.\n\nCorruption\n\nCorruption had long been a serious concern in Hong Kong, and, as the Territory became richer, the problem became more serious. When a colleague of mine said there was a price for everything, our old boss soon shut him up. That was part of the trouble. Most Europeans did not appreciate the magnitude of the problem. I recall a Chinese girl telling me, in 1955, that her grandfather had been caught by a policeman smoking opium. The old man gave the copper $20, and the whole matter was conveniently forgotten about. Squeeze affected the Chinese", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2002.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278", "rank": 0 } ]